Court and tribunal forms are moving to GOV.UK

We currently make a large number of court and tribunal published forms and guidance notes available through the form finder website. This is used by over 300,000 users each month, and has been online since 2004.

Following an online survey and research, we discovered that our users find form finder in its current design, difficult to use. Public users and litigants in person, in particular, find it difficult to find the correct forms and guidance they need.

To make it easier for users to find the forms they need, we've been working with colleagues from MOJ Digital & Technology to move the forms to GOV.UK from 21 March 2018.

Why we’re moving to GOV.UK

Hosting forms and guidance on GOV.UK will improve the experience for users because GOV.UK:

is search engine optimised - GOV.UK is one of the most used sites in the UK. This means content will appears higher up on search engine results (such as Google). This will make it easier for users to find what they are looking for as quickly as possible, and the results on search engines themselves will be easier to read due to the way we have built the new pages.

is accessible - GOV.UK is accessible for all users and designed to be compatible with a number of screen readers. While this move does not change accessibility of the forms themselves (that’s something we’re working on separately) the path to access forms and guidance will now be easier.

has fewer broken links - the most up-to-date forms will be in one place, on GOV.UK which is widely trusted by users. By always linking to the new page for each form, we will reduce the likelihood of an old version of a form being used.

is regularly archived - GOV.UK content is automatically archived with the National Archives and web archives, making it easier for users to retrieve old forms and guidance when they need to.

Minimising disruption during the move

We won’t be changing the forms or guidance documents themselves and form finder search will still be available during, and after the move. When we start to move the forms and guidance in March, all your current links will still work. And each link will be redirected to the correct new page, once the form moves across.

Browsing forms by category

Browsing by ‘Available type’ of form will also move to GOV.UK. There will be a prominent link to this on form finder, in the same place that the current list of form types is found.

Further improvements and feedback

Moving forms to GOV.UK is the first step. Once the content is moved we plan to provide a better search and browse experience on GOV.UK.

In the coming months, we will also be making changes to how forms are categorised - so that it is easier to find the right form. However, to minimise disruption during the move to GOV.UK, the forms will, at first, stay in their current categories.